Investigation of the friction and wear characteristics of Si3N4-hBN ceramic composites under marine atmospheric environment

The tribological properties of Si3N4-hBN in marine atmosphere and deionized water atmosphere were investigated by using Pin-On-Disc (POD) tribometer. In comparison, the friction coefficients of the sliding pairs in marine atmosphere were lower than that in the deionized water atmosphere. Furthermore, the tribo-chemical films were observed on the worn surface of titanium alloy against Si3N4-20 wt%hBN in marine atmosphere, which provided a certain bearing capacity between sliding pairs. Meanwhile, it can be concluded that the tribochemical films possessed lower shear force through theoretical analysis. Thus, the lower friction coefficient and wear rate were obtained in this study.